Current Grid Conditions
Current Grid Conditions (last updated Feb. 15 at 11:08 a.m. Central time):
At 10:08 a.m. Central time on Feb. 15, SPP declared an Energy Emergency Alert (EEA) Level 3 in response to conditions created by persistent and extreme cold across its service territory. An EEA3 signals that SPP's operating reserves are below the required minimum. SPP has also directed its member utilities to be prepared to implement controlled interruptions of service if necessary to mitigate the risk of more widespread and longer-lasting outages
Previously, on Feb. 15 at 7:22 a.m., SPP declared an EEA Level 2, which required the grid operator to ask its member companies to issue public conservation appeals. SPP had already requested that load-serving utilities throughout the SPP region conserve energy beginning at midnight on Feb. 15 and for the following 48 hours to mitigate the risk of more widespread and longer-lasting outages. We declared an EEA Level 1 effective Monday, Feb. 15 and 05:00 a.m., after first declaring a period of conservative operations effective Feb. 9 at 00:00 and until further notice.
End-use customers in the SPP region should follow their local utilities’ instructions regarding the potential for outages, the need to conserve electricity or natural gas, and other steps to ensure their safety and the integrity of the regional grid.
An EEA3 is the final of three levels of energy emergency. Descriptions of all most common reliability events are provided below in increasing order of severity:
Normal Operations: SPP has enough generation to meet demand and available reserves, and it foresees no extreme or abnormal threats to reliability.
Weather Alert: Declared when extreme weather is expected in SPP’s reliability coordination service territory.
Resource Alert: Declared when severe weather conditions, significant outages, wind-forecast uncertainty and/or load-forecast uncertainty are expected in SPP’s balancing authority area.
Conservative Operations: Declared when SPP determines there is a need to operate its system conservatively based on weather, environmental, operational, terrorist, cyber or other events.
Maximum Emergency Generation Notification: Issued when SPP foresees a need to make use of emergency ranges of resources.
Energy Emergency Alert Level 1: Declared when all available resources have been committed to meet obligations, and SPP is at risk of not meeting required operating reserves.
Energy Emergency Alert Level 2: Declared when SPP can no longer provide expected energy requirements and is an Energy Deficient Entity, or when SPP foresees or has implemented procedures up to, but excluding, interruption of firm load commitments.
Energy Emergency Alert Level 3: At this level, SPP is utilizing operating reserves such that it is carrying reserves below the required minimum and has initiated assistance through the Reserve Sharing Group. Declared when SPP foresees or has implemented firm load obligation interruption. Before requesting an EEA 3, SPP will have already provided the appropriate internal notifications to its Market Participants.
Restoration Event: Defined as a major or catastrophic grid outage which could be a total or partial regional blackout, island situation or system separation.